Aramco FIA-compliant 100% Sustainable Fuel in F2 and F3 - what this could mean for motorsport and mobility

Fuel with 55% biomass-derived components was implemented in F2 and F3 from 2023, but this year, Aramco has taken the next step, introducing fuel that completely fulfils the FIA’s 100% sustainable fuel standard.

We believe this partnership with the top two junior single-seater championships can bring with it a lot of benefits, which could soon be felt by championships and series beyond F2 and F3.

Media outlets including Raceteq spoke to key figures within the FIA, Formula 2 and Formula 3, and Formula 1 to find out more.

What does this type of fuel mean for F2 and F3?

This fuel was formulated with two goals in mind: uncompromising performance and sustainability.

Aramco worked with F2 and F3, and engine supplier Mecachrome, to ensure the fuel was adopted seamlessly by the teams from the start of the 2025 F2 and F3 seasons.

Performance hasn’t dropped and so smooth was the transition that drivers weren’t completely aware of the change.

“It was part of the plan to make sure that we were coming to 100% [sustainable fuel] in 2026,” says F2 and F3 CEO Bruno Michel. “But thanks to the fantastic job that Aramco's been doing, we've been able to anticipate it and do it in this season, which is a great thing.”

He adds that F2 and F3 have taken steps to educate drivers about the change.

“We had a few sessions with them so that they could understand exactly what we were doing,” says Michel.

“Some of them absolutely had no clue, really, which was quite interesting. The transition was quite simple because they didn't feel something different in the car. There was no diminution of performance or reliability. So, it was important for them to understand what we were doing and in what directions we were going. And they were really interested.”

F2 technical director Pierre-Alain Michot adds that the target was to have “no impact” on the Mecachrome engines.

“We worked quite hard with Mecachrome and Aramco to make sure that we defined a good formula for this fuel. We tested several fuels, did a lot of mileage on the dyno and on the development car before releasing it on the track in all 52 F2 and F3 cars,” says Michot.

“And it proved to be quite successful, and the performance is there, reliability is there, so we just need to continue on this path.”

The FIA-compliant 100% Sustainable Fuel supplied by Aramco to F2 and F3 cars this season is known as a ‘drop-in’ fuel, which means it can be used in existing combustion engines with few modifications.

Extensive engine testing and remapping of the Mecachrome engine’s ECU (engine control unit) to ensure the correct fuel/air mixture and ignition timing meant that there was no drop in reliability over the first three rounds of the 2025 Formula 2 season from Australia to Saudi Arabia.

Will other motorsport championships use sustainable fuel?

F2 and F3 are the only FIA championships to deploy new fuel supplied by Aramco in 2025 but another series also began using the lower-carbon fuel from the 2025 Chinese Grand Prix weekend in March.

“What I can tell you is that F1 Academy, which is not an FIA championship, is also using the same fuel that we're using with Formula 2 and Formula 3,” says Michel.

The female-only series has successfully deployed the FIA-compliant 100% Sustainable Fuel supplied by Aramco in its Tatuus-built F4-specification cars that are powered by a completely different power unit to that of F2 and F3.

F1 Academy uses Autotecnica’s 1.4-litre four-cylinder turbocharged engine rather than the Mecachrome six-cylinder engines, which shows the versatility of this drop-in formulation.

FIA single seater director Nikolas Tombazis adds that lower-carbon fuel won’t be limited to F2, F3 and F1 Academy.

“The intention is to spread it throughout all forms of motorsport. Clearly, when a championship has a single-supply fuel, the cost can be kept reasonably contained, and therefore it is realistic to expand it everywhere...” he says.

That means we could see series lower down the FIA single-seater pyramid also use this lower-carbon fuel.

A lower-carbon future for racing, and potentially the road

Motorsport is an effective testbed for myriad technologies.

In 2025 alone, Extreme H is set to debut hydrogen-powered off-road racing cars; F1 teams such as Red Bull are ramping up their use of Artificial Intelligence and machine learning; and Mercedes-Benz has made strides in solid-state battery technology with the Mercedes F1 team.

It’s similar for lower-carbon fuels.

Now that F2 and F3 have successfully implemented the FIA-compliant 100% Sustainable Fuel supplied by Aramco one year before F1 is set to do so, the FIA is looking at the road as the next space where lower-carbon fuel could make a difference.

ICE-powered cars have a long lifespan and it’s not feasible to replace all of them immediately, which is why alternative powertrains and lower-carbon fuels must be used in parallel to fulfil the world’s growing energy demands.

“So, what we'd also like to see is this, at some point, being transitioned into the road car space,” says Liam Parker, F1 chief communications and corporate relations officer.

“We believe they can have an effect on the automotive industry and greenhouse gas emission reductions around the world,” adds Parker.

The lower-carbon fuels journey is in its infancy and, in 2026, F1 teams are set to adopt fuels that meet the FIA’s 100% sustainability criteria as the governing body targets a net-zero carbon emission output by 2030.

To meet that ambition, F1 teams - as well as Aramco and the cohort of F2 and F3 teams - are set to adopt lower-carbon fuels in the future. The aim is to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in motorsport.

If motorsport can demonstrate the efficacy of lower-carbon biomass-derived fuels and synthetic fuels, then this technology could help inform the development of new fuels for the mobility sector.